President Donald Trump said he may support more strikes on Iran if the country makes advances in its nuclear or long-range weapons program.
While meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, Trump was asked about supporting strikes on Iran. Over the summer, Israel and the United States launched strikes on three Iranian sites in an attempt to degrade its nuclear program.
“If they were to continue with the missiles, yes, the nuclear, fast. One would be yes, absolutely, the other, we’ll do it immediately,” Trump said.
Trump spoke with Netanyahu in Florida on Gaza, Iran, and other topics. A truce between Hamas and Israel went into effect in October, ending a two-year conflict after a Hamas-led terrorist attack from Gaza that targeted Israel.
“Now I hear that Iran is trying to build up again,” Trump also told reporters soon after Netanyahu arrived at his Mar-a-Lago estate. “And if they are, we’re going to have to knock them down. We’ll knock them down. We’ll knock the hell out of them. But hopefully that’s not happening.”
Trump criticized Iran anew for not making a deal to completely disarm its nuclear program ahead of the United States and Israeli strikes earlier this year.
“They wish they made that deal,” Trump said.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in an interview released on the website of the country’s leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, that the war is worse than the Iranian conflict with Iraq throughout the 1980s.
“In my opinion, we are in a full-fledged war with America, Israel, and Europe; they do not want our country to stand on its feet,” Pezeshkian said. “This war is worse than Iraq’s war against us; if one understands it well, this war is far more complex and difficult than that war.”
Iran has long denied assertions from the United States that its nuclear program is being used to develop weapons. However, both Washington and Israel have said that Iran is doing so.
The U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), also flagged Iran for not being transparent regarding its program and restricting international inspectors from monitoring the country’s facilities.
Meanwhile, during their meeting, Netanyahu signaled that his relationship with the Trump administration is strong.
“I’ll say it again and again and again, we’ve never had a friend like President Trump in the White House. It’s not even close,” Netanyahu said. “And I think you can judge that by not merely by the frequency of our meetings, but by the content and the intensity.”
Trump also renewed his call on Israeli President Isaac Herzog to grant Netanyahu, who is in the midst of a corruption trial, a pardon.
“He’s a wartime prime minister who’s a hero. How do you not give a pardon?” Trump asked while speaking to reporters on Monday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.